Official Website: https://handbells.org.uk/symposium26

22nd international Handbell Symposium Composition Competition

To promote the composition and arrangement of music for handbells by Canadians, and in the process select the Canadian piece of handbell music which will be used as the Canadian Massed Ringing selection at the 22nd International Handbell Symposium (IHS) in Aberdeen, Scotland. A $1000.00 prize will be awarded to the composer of the successful manuscript. Entries must be received by email no later than 11:59pm (Mountain Standard Time) May 16, 2025.

For all the details of the competition please click here. To access the application form please click here. Questions can be send to chair@handbellmusiciansofcanada.ca

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International Handbell Committee

Past International Handbell Symposia (IHS)

International Handbell Committee (IHC)

https://www.internationalhandbells.org/about/
The International Handbell Committee was formed in 1990 to set standards and goals for the biennial International Handbell Symposium (IHS). The committee is made up of the presidents and other representatives of the eight guilds that currently share in hosting the event  – Handbell Ringers of Japan, Handbell Society of Australasia, Korean Handbell Association, Handbell Musicians of Canada (formerly Handbell Guilds of Canada), Handbell Ringers of Great Britain, Handbell Association of Hong Kong, Handbell Ringers of Singapore, and Handbell Musicians of America.

IHC Meeting

The International Handbell Committee is dedicated to the Art of Handbell/Handchime Ringing. The Mission is: Communication between nations, Handbells as a musical art, and World peace through the spirit of music.

The International Handbell Committee (IHC) held a virtual meeting on August 16, 2020. The meeting was to have been held in Hong Kong prior to the International Handbell Symposium, but due to unrest in Hong Kong and CoVid-19 the symposium had to be cancelled. The IHC meets, face to face, on a biennial basis prior to the International Handbell Symposium. Other committee meetings may take place in-between the two-year span to continue the work of the IHC. Each country has one vote, but is allowed to have up to 3 people at the meeting.

Present at the 2020 meeting were: Emily Li HAHK- (Chair), Patsy Andrews-Vert-HMC*, Ed Rollins-HMA, Pamela L Grove-HMA*, Carmel Daveson-HRA*, LynYap-HRSG*, Jenny Cauhorn-HMA, Damien Lim-HRSG, Arthur Syin-HRJ*,John Inchul Lee-KHA*, Noriko Musha-HRJ, Sam Robinson-HAS, Christine Reid-HRGB*, Ada Tsang-HAHK*, Tim Willetts-HRGB (Executive Director).

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Past International Handbell Symposia

The year and location of past symposia are as follows:

2024 - Hamamatsu, Japan
2022 - Nashville, USA
2020 - Scheduled for Hong Kong, but cancelled in December 2019
2018 - Cairns, Australia
2016 - Vancouver, Canada
2014 - Jeju, Korea
2012 - Liverpool, Great Britain
2010 - Osaka, Japan
2008 - Orlando, Florida
2006 - Brisbane, Australia
2004 - Toronto, Canada
2002 - Seoul, Korea
2000 - Birmingham, Great Britain
1998 - Makuhari Messe, Japan
1996 - Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
1994 - Adelaide, Australia
1992 - Edmonton, Canada
1990 - Seoul, Korea
1988 - Exeter, Great Britain
1986 - Gotemba, Japan
1984 - Arcata, California, USA

For each Symposium, Canada sends a representative Canadian Conductor and also submits a new Canadian Composition to be rung at the massed ringing session component of the Symposium.

Canadian-hosted IHS events

• 1992 International Handbell Symposium Edmonton, AB
• IHS 2004 Toronto, ON ‘Building Bridges’
• IHS 2016 Vancouver, BC ‘Soundings: Music of Our Lands and Our Lives’

IHS 2016 Memories and Staying in Touch

The IHS2016 Flickr page is, and will remain, a place for all those who have pictures of their time at the symposium to share those photos with one another. You can find the page by going to www.flickr.com and searching for the IHS2016 Vancouver group page.

Facebook page (www.facebook.com/IHS2016Vancouver)

Video of Final Concert of International Handbell Symposium 2016 :We're very happy to have been able to secure permission to release the video of the final concert for all to see. We've posted the footage online:

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